Adventure is out there...so what are we waiting for...

A recent survey found that children in the UK are spending an astonishingly low 16 MINUTES

per day playing outdoors.

More-so, this figure also includes time spent on weekend excursions. Data collected during the study included time spent playing outdoors at the beach, at parks and in the countryside.. Adding further concern to this, the drastically low figure drops even further, down to just 10 minutes per day when looking at results for children in their mid-teens. These figures, published by the Office for National Statistics, are the first to examine how children spend their free time and will be used to track engagement with the outdoors and sport moving forward.

Directly comparative statistics are not available for the study as this is the first of its kind. However, similar studies conducted elsewhere show a dramatic decline in the amount of time spent outdoors in recent years.

The National Trust published results two years ago which suggested that time spent outdoors by children today was just half of that of their parents. 2016 saw government agency ‘Research by Natural England’ publish findings that 1.3 million children or 12 per cent had not visited the natural environment for a year.

These findings are based on data collected from children between 8 and 15 years old. During the study, which took place between April 2014 and December 2015, the children were asked to complete time diaries twice per week. Once on a weekday and the other at the weekend. The findings showed slightly higher levels of outdoor activity from boys (18 minutes) whereas girls scored an average of just 13 minutes. Worryingly the time spent outdoors at weekends only increased slightly – to just 20 minutes…

A separate report done by Childwise collated data showing that young people between the ages of 5 and 15 were spending two and a half hours PER DAY viewing programs and videos. And for the first time, this viewing was being done via smart phones, tablets and laptops rather than televisions…

The message here is crystal clear…children are in need of access to and opportunity for outdoor play and activity. They will forever thank you for ‘bringing the park to the garden’…

No matter whether you have a small garden, bumpy or un-level ground or are working to a specific budget…we believe that Rainbow has the perfect wooden climbing frame waiting for you and your family.